India in 1994

A federal republic of southern Asia and member of the Commonwealth, India is situated on a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. Area: 3,165,596 sq km (1,222,243 sq mi), including the Indian-administered portion of Jammu and Kashmir. Pop. (1994 est): 913.7 million, including Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Cap.: New Delhi. Monetary unit: Indian rupee, with (Oct. 7, 1994) a free rate of Rs 31.37 to U.S. $1 (Rs 49.89 = £1 sterling). President in 1994, Shankar Dayal Sharma; prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao.

Affairs

Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s program of liberalization improved the economy in 1994. The government also achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) with the help of a faction of the Janata Dal headed by Ajit Singh. Congress (I) made a good showing in by-elections to Lok Sabha but was routed in three of four state assembly elections held late in the year. In Karnataka the Janata Dal won a majority, and in Andhra Pradesh and in Sikkim local parties came to power. Only in Goa did Congress (I) have success, where it emerged as the largest party.

In December three members of the Cabinet who had been accused of corruption resigned, two for their role in securities irregularities and the third named in a sugar scandal. At the same time, the prime minister’s principal rival, Arjun Singh, also left the Cabinet, charging the government with corruption.

On October 25 the Supreme Court unanimously declined to give an opinion on whether any Hindu temple had existed at Ayodhya, where the Babri Mosque (built in 1528 and demolished by Hindu fundamentalists on Dec. 6, 1992) had stood. A reference by the president to such a temple was called superfluous and unnecessary. By a 3-2 majority the court upheld the legality of the acquisition by the union government of 27.4 ha (67.7 ac) of land around the disputed structure. The court also held that the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, was guilty of contempt of court and in flagrant violation of an agreement that no permanent structure would be put up on the disputed land. Singh was symbolically sentenced to a day’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000. The result of the judgment was that the issue would have to be resolved through adjudication by the Allahabad High Court or through negotiations.

New trouble arose in Uttar Pradesh when the people of the districts in the Himalayan region protested the policies of the state government and demanded the formation of a separate state of Uttarakhand. When the state police fired upon demonstrators proceeding to Delhi, reportedly killing 25 persons, the state Congress (I) threatened to withdraw its support of the chief minister.

The situation in Punjab moved toward normalcy. Elections were held to district and village councils, and Congress (I) emerged victorious. The various Akali factions combined into a single party and demanded autonomy for the state. Assam continued to be troubled by the militancy of Bodo tribesmen.

In Jammu and Kashmir the government claimed to have broken the back of the secessionist organizations, but attacks on police, military personnel, and civilians continued. In November, Prime Minister Rao took direct control of Kashmir’s affairs.

The chief election commissioner announced a drive to reform the electoral process. He demanded that all states enforce a model election code and that they issue identity cards with photographs to all eligible voters in order to prevent fraud.

The Supreme Court delivered an important ruling in March on the scope of article 356 of the constitution and specified the conditions under which states could be brought under presidential rule. Declaring that state governments could be dismissed if they worked against secularism, a basic feature of the constitution, the court upheld the dismissals of the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh in the wake of the Ayodhya incidents. The imposition of presidential rule in Nagaland in 1988, in Karnataka in 1989, and in Meghalaya in 1991 was held to be invalid, but no remedial action was decreed since elections had subsequently been held. In another judgment the court sustained the legality of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act and the Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act.

Hindu-Muslim riots in September in Bangalore, Karnataka, resulted in 27 deaths when the local television station telecast news bulletins in Urdu, which was considered to be the language of Muslims. In Nagpur in November, 128 were killed in a stampede when police dispersed a rally of tribal people demonstrating for job quotas outside the Maharashtra state assembly. Investigation into the blasts that occurred in Bombay in 1993 led to several arrests.

In September there was an outbreak of pneumonic plague in Delhi and in Surat, Gujarat, and an epidemic of bubonic plague in Bid, Maharahstra. The epidemic was controlled within three weeks, but it affected air travel to and from foreign countries and hurt tourism and exports.

The Tamil Nadu legislature passed an act reserving 69% of the posts in state government services to the Scheduled and Other Backward (lower) Castes. The act was incorporated into the constitution as an amendment. The Karnataka legislature adopted a bill fixing the level at 73%.

The Indian space program made notable advances with the success of a satellite launch vehicle in May and a polar satellite launch vehicle in October. The latter put an 804-kg (1,769-lb) remote-sensing communications satellite into orbit at an altitude of 820 km (510 mi). An intermediate-range ballistic missile and a multitarget surface-to-air missile were test-fired successfully earlier in the year.

Zail Singh (see OBITUARIES), the president of India from 1982 to 1987, died on December 25. He was the first Sikh to hold the office.

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